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REPORT ON

AIREA’S PARTICIPATION ININDUSFOOD 2019

HELD AT

India Exposition Mart, Greater Noida

January 14-15 , 2019

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The Event: “INDUSFOOD” is an initiative to promote India as a strong exporter of food and beverage products to the world on the lines of global shows such as SIAL, ANUGA and Gulf Food. Indus food is India’s official, export-focused F&B Trade fair showcasing the country’s best line-up of food & agri products to global buyers. The event is organized by the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. Some of the salient features of the 1st Edition are:

a) A business impact worth US $2 billion approx. was expected to generate through this show which marked an on-site business worth USD 650 million.

b) The mega show was attended by 450 hosted buyers from over 43 countries. 75 global retail chains and delegations from across the globe marked their physical presence in the event.

c) 320 Indian leading exhibitors participated in the event, which included DS Group, KRBL, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable, Patanjali, Marico, ITC, Amul, Kohinoor, Premier Tea, Tata Global Beverages, Wagh Bakri, Everest Spices, Hamdard, to name a few.

d) APEDA, MPEDA, SPICE BOARD, TEA BOARD, COFFEE BOARD were the co-organizers of the 1st Edition of INDUSFOOD apart from various trade associations as supporting partners such as IOPEPC, ITA, AIREA, AIDA, IPGA, SOPA, CEPCI, ICMA, to name a few.

e) 10 states including Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, J&K, Kerala and Jharkhand had their own pavilions at the event. North East States also made their presence with display of Naturally Grown organic products.

2nd Edition – 14-15 January, 2019: TPCI in the 2nd Edition of INDUSFOOD planned to host over 600 most prominent Global Buyers from Food & Beverage industry from over 60 countries to source new products from India, meet suppliers and develop new business relations with 450 Indian Exhibitors. Seen as a great opportunity to promote potential of existing Agra Exporters, who are looking for export business opportunities, the second edition of the event was held during 14th-15th January. Foreseen as India’s synonym for global events like Gulfood and ANUGA etc. the event has been receiving growing prominence from all segments of the food and beverage industry from within and outside

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India.

Trigger for the event: Indus food focusses on value added processed foods. In India the current magnitude of food processing sector is valued at USD 258 billion and constitutes 14% of GDP through manufacturing. Food processing accounts for 32% of the country's total value of food & beverage industry. Indian Food processing sector is the 13th largest sector receiving FDI in the country. The added fillip came from conducive policies of the Government of India. Conceived as an event to leverage India’s stature as largest producer of several agricultural products like meat, milk, castor seeds, sesame, mango, banana, chickpeas and frontline producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, tea, spices, onion, potatoes etc, the event saw convergence of significant contingents from various countries e.g. Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Egypt, Iraq, EU, Iran, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mexico,, Bangladesh, Canada etc.

Inauguration: The event was inaugurated by Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hon’ble Minister of Food Processing Industries, and Government of India on 14th

January, 2019. Mr Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, welcomed the participants and highlighted India’s position as a major producer of fruits and vegetables, food grains and also as one amongst the top 10 exporters of agricultural products. He cited the need for integration of market with global value chain.

Mrs. Badal in her address highlighted that India being one of the largest producer of food made this occasion a matter of pride. Due to low level of food processing, our wastages are high. This awakened the country to the need to develop appropriate infrastructure so that through processing, wastages could be brought down. KISAM SAMPADA scheme provided for opportunities with incentives in this direction. She added that India is also a very large market and 70% of Indian food market is food retail. India’s demand of food is likely to double in the next six year which makes India a great destination for any global company in future. Today India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has doubled from $ 500 m in 2014. In order to boost food processing India has developed 40 Mega Food Parks set up with large incentives from the Government. 300 cold chain facilities have come up and the scheme of Backward and Forward linkages is aimed at uplifting the farmers.

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MRS HARSIMRAT KAUR AT THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY

ANOTHER VIEW OF INUGURATION CEREMONY

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MRS HARSIMRAT KAUR DELIVERING HER ADDRESS

The Hon’ble Minister of Commerce, Mr Suresh Prabhu, thought could not be available personally on the occasion, sent a video message of congratulations to the organizers for this grand event and wishing them good luck.

Mr LN Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha also donned the dias with other dignitaries. 

Addressing the gathering from 80+ countries said that the world’s fastest growing economy is rapidly expanding its F&B industry The increase in the world interest in India can be seen in the rise in FDI over the years.   

Mr Mohit Singla, Chairman, TPCI offered vote of thanks. He expressed gratitude towards all the visiting delegates especially those from overseas.

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MR MOHIT SINGLA DELIVERING VOTE OF THANKS

After this the Hon’ble Minister and other dignitaries including Mr Paban Kumar Borthakur, Chairman, APEDA and Mr Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce went around the exhibition halls.

In the evening, a networking dinner was also organized by TPCI.

AIREA STAND: AIREA had taken an 18 Sq meter stand in Hall NO 6. The AIREA stall was well decorated by posters denoting the various stages of rice cultivation from sowing to processing in the mills. One of the posters also depicted AIREA’s roles and activities.

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Wet samlpling of basmatik biryani in progress at IREA stall

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At the AIREA stand wet sampling of Basmati Biryani was conducted throughout the exhibition period over two days. The participants in the wet sampling were :

1.     M/s Chaman Lal Setia Exports, Karnal : M/s Chaman Lal setia Export Ltd. one of the oldest and hi-Tech Rice Millers cum Exporters of Basmati rice based in Karnal, Amritsar, Delhi also participated in the event. Mr Vijay Setia, Mr Ankit Setia , Mr Rajeev Setia, Mr Sankesh Setia, Mr Sukarn Setia were present during the event.

2.     Amar Singh Chawal Wala: M/s Amar Singh Chawal Wala one of the leading global company had their sampling scheduled in the afternoon of day 1 of the event. The taste and aroma for their brand Lal Qilla was appreciated by all.

 3.     Sarweshwar Foods: One of the leading exporter of Jammu had their sampling in the third part of day

4. H.R. Exports: M/s HR Exports have their unit located in Delhi and Mr Mohit Gupta, Director was present along with his team at the event. The Biryani prepared out of rice supplied by them was served in the afternoon of 15th September, 2018.

5. M/s BD Overseas: M/s BD Overseas having their unit in Karnal are amongst the oldest basmati millers of Haryana. The sampling of their festive brand was during the second half of the day.  

6. M/s GR International inc: M/s GR International one of the leading exporters having their mill in Haryana also participated in the event.

The important dignitaries visiting the AIREA stand were Mr Pabanm Kumar Borthakur, chairman, APEDA, Mr Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Joint Secretary, DoC, Mr S.K. Saxena, Director Export Inspection Council of India, Mr Sunil Kumar, Director, APEDA etc. They all tasted the Biryani with delight.

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Government-to-Government (G2G) meetings : 14th January, 2019

1. Vietnam : The Vietnamese side had delegates were H.E. Pham Sancho Bayou, ambassador of Vietnam to India, Dr Le Thanh Hoa, Director- Vietnam SPS Office, DDG Agro Processing and Market Development authority, Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development ; Mr Bui Trung Thuong, Head of Trade Office – Embassy of Vietnam in India ; Mr Mai Thanh Thao, DD Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development; Mr Nguyen Huu Quan, DD, Ministry of Industry & Trade of Vietnam ; Mrs Ngyen Hong Ngoc, official, Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development ; Ms Le Thi Kim Kien, Journalist, online Newspaper Industry and Trade of Vietnam, Ms Dao Thi Quynh Lan, Correspondent, Online Newspaper of Party Secretary General office cum President office ; Ms Ho Ban, PA to H.E. ambassador of Vietnam to India and Mr Nguyen Trong Nghia, Second Secretary, Embassy of Vietnam in Delhi The Indian side was led by Mr Santosh and had as members Mr Rajneesh, JS, DoC, Mr N Ramesh , Director, DoC, APEDA officials Dr Tarun Bajaj and Mr UK Vats, both General Managers, Mr Vijay Setia , President, AIREA along with Mr Vinod Kumaar Kaul, Mr MK Parimoo, TPCI. Officials from other organizations like MPEDA etc. were also present.

The discussions were primarily about market access and other issues concerning livestock and marine products as well as horticulture products market access from either side. As far as rice is concerned, AIREA did inform Mr Sarangi and Mr Rajneesh about reasons why there are hardly any possibilities to export rice to Vietnam.

Vietnamese side Indian side

2. Iraq: The Iraqi delegation comprised of HE Dr Abdul Falah Al Saadi (TBD) , Ambassador of Iraq to India, Mr. Khaldoon Yaseen Tareq, Commercial Counsellor, Embassy if Iraq in New Delhi , Mrs Madeeha Abdulkareen, Asstt

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General Director, foreign Economic Relations, Department of Trade; Mr Maher Arif Abdulazzaq, Associate Director, foreign Economic Relation Department / Ministry of Trade; Mr Wisam Mahdi Khudhair, employee at Minister’s office , Foreign Economic Relation Department/Ministry of Trade; Mr Qasim Hammood Mansoor General Director, State Company of foodstuff Trading and Mr Naeem Mohaisen Jebur, General director, State Company of Grain Trading

The Iraqi side mentioned that Iraq needs around 100,000 MTs of rice of which around 10,000 tonnes is required during Ramaadan from India though Iraq has monetary problems in sourcing large volumes of high value basmati rice. Currently Iraq is buying rice from US, Vietnam etc and the volume imported last year was 250,000 tonnes. The idea of governments of India and Iran entering into G-2-G arrangement with both sides nominating one company who can enter into an MoU, was also mooted. Mr Setia mentioned the qualities of India T-3 type rice which upon consumption releases sugar inside the body while other rices release sugar outside the body.

Mr N Ramesh mentioned that in G2G arrangement there is no price discovery. India imports crude petroleum from Iraq and if there is possibility, we can in return of petroleum payment, supply food products against these petroleum products. Indian can provide a draft MoU for this purpose. The Iraqi side mentioned that the Moue could be sent through Indian Embassy also.

Iraqi mentioned that against their tenders no Indian companies are now participating. Indian rates are also high.

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3. Egypt: The Egyptian side comprised of Mr Mohamed Rashad Mahmoud, Mr Hasan K Elshafei, Mr Mohamed R Hiza, Mr Mohamed El-demerdash Mohamed, Mr Tareq Foud, Mr Ahamed, Ms Yvonne Shenoda, Mr Shady Riad, Mr Mohammed Heiti (Egyptian Chambered of Commerce & Industry). The Egyptian side mentioned that during 2017 they imported rice worth $ 86 m and this year

Import of 500,000 tonnes of short and medium grain is being imported.

Egyptian Delegation

Mr Hassan K of Elshafi group mentioned that lot of Indian companies are investing in Egypt . Both sides have good investment opportunities in each other’s country. Rice, wheat and vegetable oils are high potential import items in Egypt. Egypt has lot of duty free areas in Suez Canal area for warehousing and manufacturing for quick evacuation to EU and Middle East.

Mr Foud mentioned that the Egyptian side also stated that this year 12 monthly

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tenders for 500,000 tons of rice will be issued for short and medium grain rice like Swarna variety. Each monthly tender will be for 50,000 tonnes which will have to be supplied in two lots of 25,000 tonnes each. The conducive CIF price including storage in Egypt and cracking charges ($T/tonne) should be $ 400/T. for successful bidding an Egyptian Company needs to be engaged who can liaise with Egyptian Government. Such Egyptian company shall buy tender from Egyptian Government in the Indian bidders name and send to bidder. The specification of rice as per Egyptian standards were mentioned as :

i) Minimum Quantity in a lot : 25,000 tonnes ii) Broken % : 10-12%iii) Successful bidder to submit with offer fur samples of 3 Kg eachiv) A letter of authorization appointing an Egyptian company as agent is

requirev) Offer must specify rice quantity, origin , specific time of delivery etcvi) After testing of samples of rice in Ministry of Civil supplies, the

successful bidder will have to make shipment in two lots within two months

vii) Humidity (Moisture) not to exceed 14%viii) Red grains not to exceed 2%ix) Yellow grains not to exceed 0.7%x) Foreign matter not to exceed 0.1%xi) Discolored grains not to exceed1%xii) Chalky and green grains not to exceed 3%xiii) Packaging should be in plolypropylene non woven 50 Kg packs xiv) A letter of assurance from and international bank worth $ 50,000 has to

accompany the offerxv) Payment by LC from an international bank

4. Saudi Arabia: Though participants were present in the hall the main delegation members did not arrive. Some of the people from Saudi side were Mr Guzanfar Ali Zaki, Mr Zubair Elli, Mr Arif M Sheikh, Mr N Mohammed Najeeb, Mr Abdul Nasar, Mr Khalid Saeed Auimnajara, Mr Abdullah Ali, and Mr Ayman Yousuf Nassa.

Since most members of the Saudi side were in regard to livestock products, Mr Gazanfar Ali who is of Indian origin discussed in brief the SFDA guidelines about livestock products. Though he did not mentioned about rice, ED, AIREA mentioned the developments during Indian delegation’s visit to SFDA in Riyadh last year.

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Conclusion: Though this was only the second edition of the event, UK, it is proving its mettle. The event is foreseen as posing equivalence to major international event Gulfood . True that the importance of Gulfood cannot be undermined but considering that post Brexit UK is planning to target Middle East and North Africa as major destinations for its export of food products, it is essential that India looks seriously into developing Indusfood as a premier event to provide a crucial avenue for diversification of its mart base beyond Middle East.